The phenomenon of like-minded people going online to share ideas, trade, or compete is well-accepted. In moving from the physical world to the digital one, users create virtual “communities” where they are bound together by the similarities of their interests or activities, rather than the proximity of their location. These communities can take any number of forms, the most basic being discussion groups, chat rooms, blogs, and forums, which are, in effect, offline communities reincarnated online.
These online communities can provide powerful sources of information and can also include dynamic creation of information useful both within and outside of these communities.